A few months after I was called to be the Young Woman's President, I was at the church bookstore getting a few things and really felt like I just had to have a magazine put out by the Church called "The New Era." I've been in yw plenty of times before and never really felt the need to add one more thing to my list of things I should read. That day, however, was different and I went home with the magazine. The very first article I read was on PP by Proxy. Now, by proxy is something we do for people who have passed on and need their work completed for them, such as baptisms. This took that principle and applied it to the pp program. At the time our girls weren't even doing the program for themselves so I really didn't know how presenting this idea would go over. I read them the very moving article in the magazine and explained to them that if they wanted to help Nicole to achieve this award they could not count anything they did for her for themselves. They had to completely forgo their own pp to do this for her. The girls were so eager and willing to do this great gift for her that we accomplished this goal in 3 months time. I thought we would need a year or more, but we had a yw in excellence night for our Ward coming up and decided that we would try our hardest to get it done by then. We kept the entire thing a secret from Nicole's Mom, but filled in Dad so he could be sure to get them there for the evening. What a humbling experience this has been for me. I really didn't think we could pull something like this off and the girls amazed and inspired me. We gave her Mom a scrapbook of all the projects that were done with pictures and testimonies and notes. It was a Special night filled with many tears of joy. For me, Nicole may not be aware of the service that was provided to her in this life, but there is no doubt in my mind that when we meet up on the other side there will be rejoicing and hugs and gratitude that she was not overlooked and that she was able to partake of the blessings of having completed the program. Her family has been so grateful and loves to tell us of the experiences they have had reading the scrapbook that was made. Sadly, I am not in possession of any of the pictures from that night,but I do have one taken from the recognition dinner put on by the Stake a couple of months later. A few of the girls went with me so that they could see Nicole receive her award and her Mom wanted the girls to come up and accept the award with her. This is an experience that I will cherish for the rest of my days. Nicole turns 16 tomorrow and she is coming up to Girls' Camp for I think the first time ever this year and she has a special talent for bringing out the best in those around her and I am grateful that she is in our lives.
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Nicole
I wanted to do a post about my very special friend Nicole. She is the beautiful girl in the pink dress with the fancy pink flower in her hair. This picture was taken at a Personal Progress recognition dinner last week. This is a dinner that is held once a year for young women completing the personal progress program. This is a program similar in nature to the Eagle Scout a young man earns in Scouts. This program consists of 70 hours in projects. The reading of the entire Book of Mormon in addition to taking notes on it. Along with 56 other experiences ranging in hours to complete. What makes this so special is that because of Nicole's condition it makes it impossible for her to complete such a task. In fact in many ways she is much like an infant. She is very aware of her surroundings and the people in her life and finds ways to communicate and let us know how she is feeling with grunts, claps, clicks, smiles and has many, many friends.
A few months after I was called to be the Young Woman's President, I was at the church bookstore getting a few things and really felt like I just had to have a magazine put out by the Church called "The New Era." I've been in yw plenty of times before and never really felt the need to add one more thing to my list of things I should read. That day, however, was different and I went home with the magazine. The very first article I read was on PP by Proxy. Now, by proxy is something we do for people who have passed on and need their work completed for them, such as baptisms. This took that principle and applied it to the pp program. At the time our girls weren't even doing the program for themselves so I really didn't know how presenting this idea would go over. I read them the very moving article in the magazine and explained to them that if they wanted to help Nicole to achieve this award they could not count anything they did for her for themselves. They had to completely forgo their own pp to do this for her. The girls were so eager and willing to do this great gift for her that we accomplished this goal in 3 months time. I thought we would need a year or more, but we had a yw in excellence night for our Ward coming up and decided that we would try our hardest to get it done by then. We kept the entire thing a secret from Nicole's Mom, but filled in Dad so he could be sure to get them there for the evening. What a humbling experience this has been for me. I really didn't think we could pull something like this off and the girls amazed and inspired me. We gave her Mom a scrapbook of all the projects that were done with pictures and testimonies and notes. It was a Special night filled with many tears of joy. For me, Nicole may not be aware of the service that was provided to her in this life, but there is no doubt in my mind that when we meet up on the other side there will be rejoicing and hugs and gratitude that she was not overlooked and that she was able to partake of the blessings of having completed the program. Her family has been so grateful and loves to tell us of the experiences they have had reading the scrapbook that was made. Sadly, I am not in possession of any of the pictures from that night,but I do have one taken from the recognition dinner put on by the Stake a couple of months later. A few of the girls went with me so that they could see Nicole receive her award and her Mom wanted the girls to come up and accept the award with her. This is an experience that I will cherish for the rest of my days. Nicole turns 16 tomorrow and she is coming up to Girls' Camp for I think the first time ever this year and she has a special talent for bringing out the best in those around her and I am grateful that she is in our lives.
A few months after I was called to be the Young Woman's President, I was at the church bookstore getting a few things and really felt like I just had to have a magazine put out by the Church called "The New Era." I've been in yw plenty of times before and never really felt the need to add one more thing to my list of things I should read. That day, however, was different and I went home with the magazine. The very first article I read was on PP by Proxy. Now, by proxy is something we do for people who have passed on and need their work completed for them, such as baptisms. This took that principle and applied it to the pp program. At the time our girls weren't even doing the program for themselves so I really didn't know how presenting this idea would go over. I read them the very moving article in the magazine and explained to them that if they wanted to help Nicole to achieve this award they could not count anything they did for her for themselves. They had to completely forgo their own pp to do this for her. The girls were so eager and willing to do this great gift for her that we accomplished this goal in 3 months time. I thought we would need a year or more, but we had a yw in excellence night for our Ward coming up and decided that we would try our hardest to get it done by then. We kept the entire thing a secret from Nicole's Mom, but filled in Dad so he could be sure to get them there for the evening. What a humbling experience this has been for me. I really didn't think we could pull something like this off and the girls amazed and inspired me. We gave her Mom a scrapbook of all the projects that were done with pictures and testimonies and notes. It was a Special night filled with many tears of joy. For me, Nicole may not be aware of the service that was provided to her in this life, but there is no doubt in my mind that when we meet up on the other side there will be rejoicing and hugs and gratitude that she was not overlooked and that she was able to partake of the blessings of having completed the program. Her family has been so grateful and loves to tell us of the experiences they have had reading the scrapbook that was made. Sadly, I am not in possession of any of the pictures from that night,but I do have one taken from the recognition dinner put on by the Stake a couple of months later. A few of the girls went with me so that they could see Nicole receive her award and her Mom wanted the girls to come up and accept the award with her. This is an experience that I will cherish for the rest of my days. Nicole turns 16 tomorrow and she is coming up to Girls' Camp for I think the first time ever this year and she has a special talent for bringing out the best in those around her and I am grateful that she is in our lives.
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2 comments:
That is really neat, Heath. Sounds like the personal progress program has changed a bit since I did it. The youth today have really impressed me, they seem so much stronger than I was.
That's so awesome that you guys got to do that! What a great story.
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